


Collecting the Cat

by GreenMeridian



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Slash if you squint, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 05:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20058436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenMeridian/pseuds/GreenMeridian
Summary: A little drabble about Boris and a cat.





	Collecting the Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Borne of a Tumblr photo set from River in which Stellan’s character is being miaowed at by a cat.

Boris wondered if she had always been such a loud little cat. Perhaps she had learned to make herself heard to get Valery’s attention when he lost himself in work. He smiled sadly at the idea of Valery surrounded by paperwork in the early hours of the morning, only stopping to sleep because the cat refused to be quiet and let him work.

Or maybe she missed him as much as Boris did and was hoping Valery would somehow hear her and return. He reached down to scratch behind her ear. “He won’t come back for either of us, little one,” he said softly. “We have to learn how to get on without him. I’ve had longer to adjust than you have, it is possible. Terrible, but possible.”

He stood straight again, wincing at the dull pain in his joints. He knew he was old, but this was more than that. This was the radiation that was killing him, slowly but surely. He ached all the time now, all over his body, and his lung capacity was getting smaller by the day. The doctor had told Boris he should put his affairs in order, make peace with his loved ones. It would not be long before he would be forced to move into a hospital to live out his final days. The walk up to Valery’s apartment had been slow and torturous and he cursed Charkov for subjecting Valery to such punishment. Valery had been sick too, he knew. He must have been. How isolated had the poor man become, when his body had begun letting him down and the stairs to the outside world became too much of a struggle for anything but absolute necessity?

It hurt, knowing he was too weak to adopt the cat. This small piece of Valery’s life. He would have liked to have had her company, learned her habits, formed a picture in his mind of how Valery would have been with her. He had spoken of her occasionally, always with a small, affectionate smile on his face that had warmed Boris’ heart each time he saw it. He himself did not care for cats, he found them fickle and uncaring when compared to dogs, but this poor creature was worthy of Valery’s rare affections and so he had an automatic fondness for her. Perhaps Valery had spoken about him in her presence, told her all the things he had never told Boris. Boris had had no one to tell about Valery, and he would liked to have told the cat. She could carry both their secrets, after she had outlived them both. But like so many things in his life that involved Valery, it was not to be. He was too sick, too tired, too old to give her the life Valery would have wanted for her. No, it was best that he gave her to Irina. He had not long known her as an adult but she was a kind, gentle young woman and he was confident she would give the cat a good home. And he liked the idea of this small piece of Valery becoming a part of his family, even in this small way.

“Come with me, little one. I can’t take you, but my daughter can. You’ll like her, she has a soft heart.”

The cat looked up at him expectantly, and he looked back at her, feeling a tightness in his chest that he knew was not a cough.

“She’s safe now, Valera. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you both.”

**Author's Note:**

> thegreenmeridian.tumblr.com


End file.
